Salsa-ing

Per the post below, Luke and I went to this Salsa and Salsa activity where we got to learn how to make salsa and then how to dance the salsa. We really had a great time together - especially when I wasn't being too bossy.

Luke mooshing some guacamole. 

Me mooshing some salsa verde. 

Luke helping to demonstrate how to make a virgin margarita. 

Mexican Thanksgiving

I'm sorry it has taken so long to blog about our trip to Mexico for Thanksgiving. It was a great family reunion, actually, with the entire and Gordon and Laurie Low clan: all my siblings, their spouses, and my nieces and nephews, too. The weather was absolutely perfect and I've been sad to be back in Boston where it's been super cold. Also, I'd like to say that I actually got a bit of a tan - without even trying. And, here's the best part, I didn't get burnt at all. It was truly a Thanksgiving Mircale.

Our daily activities while in Mazatlan (on the west coast of Mexico) involved going to the beach, or the pool, or both; playing games like speed Scrabble and Settlars of Catan (a first time for me); preparing and eating yummy Mexican dishes; taking long walks along the beach; enjoying the sunsets; and generally enjoying each others company. We also watched all three extended versions of The Lord of the Rings movies 'cause lets face it, it's not quite a Low vacation without excessive amounts of LOTR. I'd like to say that Luke, Morgan (bro in-law) and I made up the LOTR fellowship, as it were, since we were the only three to watch them in full.

A picture of some of us on, as Beth my sister, called it, "our daily constitutional" i.e our daily walk. Mom and Beth are in the foreground, Heather is way up ahead. I was taking the picture. 

Another very exciting part of our vacation is that my younger sister, Heather, got her mission call. I'm not sure if it's exactly public knowledge yet, so I won't post where she's going. She can do that herself. Luke and I are thrilled for her and are postive that she will be a fantastic missionary.

One morning, Luke and I went to this Salsa and Salsa thing where we learned how to make all kinds of different salsas and then learned to dance the salsa. We had a really great time. Here we are with our chef hats and aprons.

I have a few more pictures, but for some reason, it's not letting me post them. I'll try later.

Oh man, oh man, oh man!

I'm getting excited about seeing everyone in Mexico. And I'm looking forward to the warm weather, too. I'm ick of the cold. Brrrrr.

"Costume Pics"

Considering that we decided to dress up for Halloween 5 minutes before we went out the door, I think we did pretty well for ourselves. For more info, read the post below.


Luke had the awesome pink jacket for a fun murder mystery party that we did at some friends a while back. However, we may accept money if some one pays us for him to wear it to church.

Memories of Halloweens Past

I know that Halloween is over, but I didn't have time to write yesterday, so I'm writing now. Seeing all the youngin's out and about in their costumes reminded me of how much fun it was to get all dressed up and collect candy in the cold. It also made me sad that Luke and I hadn't planned on dressing up, so before we went to our friends' for a low key get together, we decided to put on stuff we found around the house. We ended up being the only ones to dress up. The results (pictures) are coming, but I was a nerd, and Luke was a bright and colorful "cool guy." It wasn't my best costume and fell into the category of costume that I seem to have a knack for: costumes that make you look worse than you actually do.

I think the costume that best highlights my work in this genre is my costume for the high school senior year Halloween dance. Everytime I watch the movie Mean Girls and the scene where the main character shows up to a Halloween party as a scary looking bride and everyone else is looking all dolled up, I cringe cause it hits very close to home. While the other girls in my high school (for the most part) were very good at having their costumes and looking cute, too, I decided to be an Oompa Loompa. (Luke's reaction: it's like you thought of the cutest thing you could be and then did the exact opposite). I had painted my whole face bright orange with freaky white eyebrows, painted my hair green hair with greasy, green make up, and wore beige overalls with a brown shirt underneath. I also recall that I memorized the Oompa Loompa song and would randomly burst into song throughout the night. I thought it was such a great idea, until I got to the dance and then people hardly wanted to talk with me. Worst of all, they took a big picture of everyone at this dance and printed it in color (and very big) in the yearbook, so now anyone who opens the yearbook will be reminded of my costume. Thank goodness, I'm not recognizable - I'm hoping most people who see the picture will think that the orange-faced person is a guy. When I get a chance, I'll have to scan the picture and post it, so you can see me (though I'll warn you now that I'm very small and just in the corner, so you can't see the whole costume, just my orangified face).

Other costumes (both sucessful and not) that I rememeber

a witch
the season Summer
a care bear (this was another awful costume... very poorly executed)
the Queen of spades
a newsie
a farmer
Alice in Wonderland, though nobody could really tell, which I attribute to their being lame
a crayola crayon
an M&M bag (really cool costume that Mom made)
a cowboy
a China doll

I can't recall any more.

Some costumes that Luke has had:

astronaut
dinosaur
star fleet officer from Star Trek
mad scientist
skeleton
vampire
guy with really creepy mask that bleeds (it's really gross - this was probably one of his favorites)

Spooky Houses

Luke and I had some friends over last week to make some spooky graham cracker houses. We did it last year and I think it's a tradition that is going to stick. Here are our creations. Our friends, a couple from the ward, brought their A games and totally made us look bad. But we all had fun anyway. Oddly, neither of us thought to get pictures of us or our guests. We'll have to be better about that in the future.

Sorry some of these pictues are sideways. I'm not sure what is going on, and it's too late to really care.

Our building supplies:



My house. More traditional than I normally go



Luke built a ghost shanty town using the ghost Dots that we found at Target. It was pretty neato, but kind of hard to see in this picture.



Jared and Jessica Butts' masterpieces. They really schooled us. so, we're going to have to gear up for an ulimate Christmas craham cracker house building challenge.

Anna's List

I usually think the lists on Anna's blog are pretty interesting, so I've decided to put my answers for her latest one:

1. Where is your cell phone? Purse (but really, who cares... I'm not going to answer it any way) ;)
2. Where is your significant other? Home
3. Your hair color? Blond-ish
4. Your mother? Spunky
5. Your father? Sweet
6. Your favorite food? Chocolate
7. Your dream last night? Curious (I think I was baking pies at Wellesley and my choir conductor chewed me out 'cause I was making them wrong).
8. Your dream/goal? Happiness
9. The room you're in? Great
10. Your hobby? Collage (well, and it's my profession now. Crap! Do I need a new hobby now?)
11. Your fear? Unrealized potential
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? wherever Luke is
13. Where were you last night? home. (We watched Rocky. Man, what a great film.)
14. What you're not? political
15. One of your wish-list items? acne meds that work
16. Where you grew up? Calgary/Belmont
17. The last thing you did? ate applesauce
18. What are you wearing? church clothes
19. Your TV? Cable-less
20. Yur pet? non-existent
21. Your computer? Luke's
22. Your mood? content
23. Missing someone? not really
24. Your car? stick shift
25. Something you're not wearing? shoes
26. Favorite store? Crate & Barrell (though I never buy much, it's too expensive. I just like all the pretty colors)
27. Your summer? indoors
28. Love someone? Luke
29. Your favorite color? red
30. When is the last time you laughed? minutes ago
31. Last time you cried? last night